Mold for making shoes



NGV. 29, 1960 J. w. STEWART MOLD FOR MAKING sHoEs med oct. 29, 1957United States Patent O Aice MOLD FOR MAKING SHOES James W. Stewart,Providence, RJ., assignor to Marbill Company, Providence, R.I., acorporation of Rhode Island Filed Oct. 29, 1957, Ser. No. 693,153

1 Claim. (Cl. 18-34) the bottom is formed in situ, a lasted upper isbrought into engagement with the bottom contained in the mold, theassembled parts are heated to effect fusion of the bottom to the upper,then cooled to consolidate the bond and tinally the finished shoe isstripped from the mold. Objects of this invention are to provide a moldfor use in carrying out the aforesaid method which is designed to bepassed through a water bath for cooling without .danger of wetting theupper, which has removable parts so constructed as to facilitatestripping the finished shoe from the mold when the latter has beencompleted without having to interrupt the continuous movement of theconveyor, which is designed to prevent leakage of the bottom formingcompound around the shoulder of the lasted upper during 'fusion andwhich has special securing means which may be moved into and out ofoperative position while the mold is in motion.

. As herein shown, the mold is a boat having a bottom and peripheralwall within which there is removably fitted a ring. The ring and bottomin conjunction form a .bottom cavity below the top ofthe boat which isof a shape land thickness corresponding to the bottom of the shoe thatis being made; `The peripheral wall of the boat exceeds in height thewall of the ring so as to extend upwardly beyond the junction of thebottom and upper to protect the upper and its inner side slopesdownwardly and inwardly. The bottom has a groove peripherally thereof,next to the wall and the ring has a downwardly tapering wall forengagement with the downwardly sloping wall of the boat fand a loweredge adapted to t into the groove. A clamp in the form of a bale ispivotally connected at one end to the boat and is held down at itsopposite end by a latch at that end. There are spaced bosses on the baleadapted to have contact with the neck of a last and the toe of an upperassembled thereon, resting on the edge of the ring with its bottomsurface in Contact with the bottom member situated in the bottom cavityto hold the latter clamped against the ring.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a plan view of the mold;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section to larger scale showing thecross-section of the wing at its upper edge.

Referring to the drawings, the mold comprises a boat 10 having a bottom12 and an upstanding peripheral wall 14 within which there is removablyfitted a ring 16.

2,961,707 Patented Nov. 29, 196O The inner `side of the peripheral wallof the boat slopes downwardly and inwardly and the outer peripheral wallof the ring 16 has a corresponding slope, so that the ring fits snuglyinto the boat but may readily -be removed therefrom by lifting upwardly,the slope being such that the ring can be easily disengaged from theboat. To facilitate such removal handles 18-18 are screwed into the topof the ring at opposite ends. The inner side of the ring and the uppersurface of the bottom 12 form a bottom cavity 20, within which a bottommay be formed or placed for molding and for attachment to a lasted upperand to this end is of a shape and thickness corresponding to aconventional bottom member having heel, shank and sole areas and aperipheral edge shaped to merge with the upper at the shoulder.

According to the method of making the bottom member :a predeterminedquantity of liquid bottom forming composition is deposited in thebot-tom cavity after the mold has first been heated to a uniformtemperature, whereupon the mold is rocked by suitable mechanical meansto cause the entire quantity of the composition to be distributeduniformly over the bottom and inner wall of the ring to form a shell. Toprevent the liquid from getting under the ring and causing it to adhereto the bottom and `also to secure a sharp line at the intersection ofthe tread surface of the bottom with the outer surface of the peripheralwall, a groove 22 is formed around the entire bottom of the wall next tothe wall and the lower part of the ring 16 is shaped to set closely intothe groove.

`After the initial distribution of the plastic in the mold so as to forma uniform wall on the bottom and inside of the ring :a filler isdeposited therein and activated so as to form an inner sponge layerwhich rises to a level corresponding substantially to the rim of theinitially formed shell within the mold close to the top of the ring. `A.lasted upper U is now placed bottom down in contact with the rim of thering 16, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the inturned margin of the upperhas contact with `the upper edge of the shell and the sponge filling. Inorder to make a substantially leak-tight line contact between the upperat the shoulder of the last and the bottom, the inner side of the ringis beveled to provide a sharp lip 24 (Fig. 3). When the lasted upper isplaced in engagement with the top of the ring the shoulder rests withinthe depression of the bevel on the edge of the lip and by applyingpressure to the lasted upper, as will hereinafter appear, the latter maybe caused to press itself into the surface of the upper at the shoulder,so that there is no danger of the bottom composition squeezing `outduring the bonding operation onto the upper material.

The last L on which the upper is lasted is preferably a hollow aluminumcasting having per-forations through it for ventilation so that it willnot hold heat unduly.

To hold the lasted shoe in this position a bale 26 is mounted lengthwiseof the boat 1i) with one end pivotally connected between a pair of ears28 on a pin 30. The other end of the bale has a nose 32 which is adaptedto engage the top edge of the boat and to be secured in place by a latchbar 34. The latch bar is pivotally connected to the boat by a pin 36 sothat it may be swung from a nearly horizontal position to asubstantially vertical position and contains a longitudinally arrangedslot 38 which passes over the nose 32 when the lever is swung to itsvertical position to hold the latter down. A spring pressed ball 40 ismounted in the upper end of the slot so as yieldably to engage adepression in the nose 32.

The bale has on it on its underside spaced bosses 42 and 44 forengagement respectively with the neck of the last L and the toe of theupper to clamp the lasted margin of the upper against the lip of thering.

As previously pointed out, the molding device herein described isespecially designed for use in practice of the method disclosed in mypending application, wherein molds are moved by an endless convyeorrelative to a series of operating stations, at which stations variousshoe making operations are performed. At one of the stations as thereindescribed, the mold is passed through a water bath to consumate theunion between the bottom and the upper after fusing and to cool the molddown so that at the subsequent station the shoe may be stripped from themold. Movement of the mold through the water bath of course producesturbulence in the water and in order to eliminate any danger of wettingthe upper the walls of the boat, as heretofore related, are made muchdeeper than the thickness of a mold which would be required for thethickness of the sole being/attached to the shoe and as herein shownextends above the top f the ring by an amount almost equal to thethickness of the bottom. Thus the boat protects the shoe from wettingduring the cooling period.

When the completed shoe reaches the stripping station it must be removedfrom the conveyor and preferably without stopping the latter. Because ofthe fact that the bottom member at its peripheral edge bulges somewhatand the mold Wall is undercut or re-entrant to provide for this contour,it is evident that in order to strip the shoe the sole must becompressed somewhat to pull it free and since the conveyor does not stopthe stripper may have diiiculty in removing the shoe or may in hisattempt to remove it quickly damage the shoe. This danger is minimizedby the above construction because the operator removes both the shoe andthe ring 16 at the same time, the latter being pulled free by lifting onthe shoe or if this does not suiice by lifting on the handles 18-18. Anew ring may then be dropped in place and the empty mold may continuealong in readiness for the next operation. Thus the operator has anopportunity to disengage the shoe from the ring without being hurried bythe motion of the carrier.

The latch 34, through to which clamping is effected, is designed so thatit can be swung into and out of operative position while the mold ismoving.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes al1 modificationsand equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim: i

A mold for attaching shoe bottoms to uppers wherein a liquid coolant isemployed to accelerate the cooling of the mold following attachment ofthe bottom, comprising a deep wall receptacle having an integral bottom,a part of the surface of the bottom corresponding in shape to the treadsurface of the bottom to be attached to the upper, and a groove in thebottom bounding said part corresponding to the tread surface, the bottomof the groove being below said part, said wall constituting the outerside of the groove and sloping upwardly and outwardly therefrom to alevel above the normal thickness of the bottom to be attached to theupper, so as to form a circumseribing coolant guard about the upper, amold ring of tapering cross-section having an inner side correspondingin shape to the side wall of the bottom to be attached to the upper, alip at its upper edge adapted to project beneath the shoulder of theupper, an outer side for engagement with the sloping wall of thereceptacle, and `a lower edge adapted to t into the groove, said ringbeing disposed in the receptacle and providing, in combination with thebottom, a bottom cavity, handles at the ends of the ring by means ofwhich it may be lifted from or inserted into the receptacle, a clampingelement pivotally connected at one end to one end of the receptacle,said element extending lengthwise of the receptacle and having bearingpartsA spaced lengthwise thereof for engagement with the neck and toe ofa last disposed with its bottom in engagement with the top of themolding ring to hold the last against the ring, a nose at the distal endof the clamping element containing a depression, a latch memberpivotally mounted at the opposite end of the receptacle adjacent thenose of the clamping element, Said latch member being swingable from avertical position to a horizontal position and having an openingadapted, by swinging of the latch to a vertical position, to pass overthe nose at the end of the clamping element, and a spring-pressed pinmounted on the member within the opening for yielding engagement withthe depression in the nose to lock the latch in operative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,830,324 Farmer et al. Apr. 15, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 590,537 BelgiumAug. 26, 1952 1,012,471 `France July 10, 1952 1,104,176 France Nov. 25,1955 1,104,977 France June 22, 1955 335,190 Italy Feb. 3, 1936

